Rollins trial, day 12: Jury hears closing arguments

The trial in Case No. 3AN-09-07868CR, State of Alaska v. Rollins, is being heard before Anchorage Superior Court Judge Philip R. Volland. Today, closing arguments from the prosecution and the defense were heard, and the case went to the jury.

My tweets today were a mix of Rollins trial & Valentine’s Day. Today in Anchorage Superior Court, closing arguments were heard in the case, and then it went to the jury. We might hear a verdict as early as Tuesday. As has been the case through most of the trial, Grace Jang and photographer Ken Fankhauser of KTVA Channel 11 were in the courtroom livetweeting. (Eventually KTVA’s Twitter feed even got Fankhauser’s Twitter name spelled correctly.) See their Twitter feeds for a full account of the day’s events, or read/watch media coverage (links posted at the bottom of the post). Casey Grove of the Anchorage Daily News has also been doing some find reporting on this case.

Closing arguments were made for the state by Deputy District Attorney Sharon Marshall, for the defense by Fairbanks attorney Susan Carney. An excerpt from Casey Grove’s ADN piece on today’s events:

Marshall [for the state] at one point focused on Rollins’ position of authority.

She said one of the women, in her statement, spoke for all of the alleged victims regarding their feelings toward the officer.

” ‘He has so much power, he could cause problems for me,’ ” said Marshall, reading the woman’s words projected on a screen in court.

“When somebody stands in front of you with a badge and a gun, you’re supposed to respect that,” Marshall said. “He’s on official duty every time this happens.”

Turning to face Rollins later, Marshall raised her voice almost to a shout, saying he was so arrogant he thought his alleged victim wouldn’t go to police.